Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 12:42
And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom [his] lord shall make ruler over his household, to give [them their] portion of meat in due season?
42. Who then is that faithful and wise steward ] Our Lord, in the deeply instructive method which He often adopted, did not answer the question, but taught the only lesson which was needful for the questioner. St Paul perhaps refers to these words of Christ in 1Co 4:1-2.
their portion of meat in due season ] “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God,” Act 20:28.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Luk 12:42-44
That faithful and wise steward
Our stewardship
I.
HERE IS REPRESENTED A SITUATION OF WEIGHTY RESPONSIBILITY. A stewardship. All responsibility on the part of man is owing to God.
1. And first, my brethren, let it be remarked that God, on this principle and in this relationship of responsibility, or of stewardship, has endowed us with natural faculties: faculties which impart to us a dominion and empire over the various orders of that material creation by which we are surrounded; faculties which enable us to distinguish between right and wrong, between good and evil; faculties which therefore entitle us to comprehend the purposes for which moral government is formed; and faculties which permit our assimilation to the attributes and image of our Maker, that assimilation by which, most of all, He is dignified and honoured. There are, my brethren, you observe in these cases, entrustments which are committed to all, and the improvement of which is required from all, excepting, indeed, in cases of sad and mysterious affliction, or where it is usurped by madness. And those who, from time to time, have conceived, whether truly or falsely, that they have received an amount of natural faculties greater than the ordinary measure, must always remember, with deep and with prayerful solemnity, that what remains for them is nothing but humility, and seriousness, and diligence, and prayer.
2. Secondly, let it be observed that upon this principle and assimilation of stewardship God has also endowed us with many advantages and blessings. The comforts that men derive from their measure of worldly substance and competency, whatever it may be, and the comforts which they derive from the intimacies of friendship and the sweet and tender endearments of private and domestic life, ought not to escape enumeration, and ought not to be meanly esteemed.
3. God, on this principle of stewardship, has also endowed us with many religious privileges. He has endowed us with many religious privileges: that is to say, those means that are eminently adapted to instruct His creatures in the knowledge of His will, and to prepare them and guide their feet into the ways of quietness and peace.
II. Here is presented AN IMPORTANT CHARACTER BY WHICH THIS SITUATION IS DISTINGUISHED. The Redeemer, you observe, speaks of the faithful and wise stewards love to the cause of his master. What we intend now to remark on this is, that these are the attributes which it is desirable that every human being should sustain with respect to that stewardship under which he is placed.
1. To be faithful and wise stewards, men must ascertain the nature of the duty which is imposed.
2. To be faithful and wise stewards, men must love the duty which is imposed.
3. To be faithful and wise stewards, men must practically perform the duty which is imposed.
4. To be faithful and wise stewards, men must habitually contemplate the account to be rendered of the duty which is imposed.
III. THE DELIGHTFUL RESULTS IN WHICH THE MAINTENANCE OF THAT CHARACTER IN THAT SITUATION IS TO TERMINATE.
1. The public approbation of the Divine Master.
2. The introduction to substantial honour, and perfect and eternal happiness. (J. Parsons.)
A faithful steward
The other day! [Rev. F. S. Cook, D.D., in Altering the Gospel] received a communication from a lawyer, who says that a very large owner has discovered that a very small piece of property belongs to him, and not to the small proprietor in whose possession it has for a very long time remained. The matter seemed a trifling one. We had a conference, and there came the steward with the lawyers, and he was furnished with maps, and, putting on his spectacles, examined them with great care. Why? It was a small matter to him, but because he was a steward he was expected to be faithful. And when he found that this small piece of ground belonged to his lord he was determined to have it. So let me say–as stewards of the gospel of God-never give up one verse, one doctrine, one word of the truth of God. Let us be faithful to that committed to us, it is not ours to alter. We have but to declare that which we have received.
Christian devotedness
Did you never read Henry Martyns life, a polished scholar, a man of learning and repute, giving up all for Christ to go to Persia and there to die without having seen a convert, perhaps, and yet content to live, content to die, in far-off lands for his Masters sake? Did you never read of Brainerd far away among the Indians, toiling on, and in his old age teaching a poor black child its letters, and thanking God that when he could not preach, he could yet teach the child its letters, and so do something for his dear Lord who had done so much for him? Ay, did you never read and think of even St. Francis Xavier, papist as he was? Yet what a man, how consecrated, how zealous! with all his errors, and all his mistakes, and all his faults, yet passing over sea and land, penetrating forests, and daring death a thousand times, that he might spread abroad the poor misguided doctrines which he believed. As much as I hate his teaching, I admire his all but miraculous zeal. When I think of some such men; when I would fain censure their mistakes, I can only censure myself that I cannot even so much as think, or cannot do more than think of living such a life as they lived. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Blessed is that servant
The blessedness of the well-employed servant
I. WE ARE ARE OF US SERVANTS AND STEWARDS, AND ARE TO BE IN EMPLOYMENT. We must be doing. Religion is no idle and lazy thing, it is not sluggish and sleepy, it is not drowsy and lethargic, but it is lively and active, vigorous and operative, and always puts us upon holy endeavours and enterprizes. A Christian is not made to stand still and dig nothing. His soul and all its faculties were given him for some great design, and fitted for some excellent use and work.
II. IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO BE EMPLOYED AND TO BE DOING SOMETHING; WE MUST BE SO DOING–doing our Masters work. We had better be doing nothing than not be so doing–so run, that ye may attain, saith the apostle. The racer may run, and with full speed, and yet never reach the goal, never obtain the prize, for he may run out of the way, and make haste from the mark. And though he keeps the way, he may not be swift enough. The manner as well as the matter o! religion is to be minded, and the latter of these chiefly. I shall endeavour, then, to explain this duty of a Christian in my text; I will show you what it is to be so doing, and I pray God the several particulars, which are all plain and intelligible, may have influence on our lives and practices, that when our Lord shall come, we may be found employed about these following things.
1. Meditating and examining ourselves, serious consideration and reflection on our ways. The Christian is to be busied within doors; he is to be rifling his own breast, and taking account of the inward frame and disposition of his heart.
2. Watching is another exercise meant here by the so doing, as you may see in Luk 12:37-38 of this chapter. You are, then, to watch over your hearts, and to keep them with all diligence. And moreover, you are to watch over your actions and lives; you must avoid the occasions of every vice, and keep a strict guard over your senses, which are the common inlets to sin, and betray you to the commission of the greatest follies. Behold! I come as a thief (saith Christ), blessed is he that wateheth Rev 16:15).
3. Praying is another good and laudable posture to be found in when our Lord cometh. Watch and pray go hand in hand together, and they are never more seasonable than when we are expecting the coming of our Lord.
4. Lamenting and sorrowing for our sins is to be so doing; and is another good work to be found in when we are to depart hence, and appear before the impartial tribunal of heaven. Our sins and failings are very numerous, our slips and offences are many and frequent, and we cannot sufficiently lament and bewail our folly, and implore the Divine pardon, and invoke the assistance of the Holy Spirit, but let us resolve to do it with all our might, and with sincere and upright hearts, that our present sorrows and lamentations may give us an entrance into undisturbed joy and felicity.
5. Whilst we have opportunity, let us reckon it our duty and interest to be constantly attending on Gods holy ordinances, not only that of prayer (before mentioned), but that of reading and hearing Gods Word; also the Holy Communion.
6. Doing of works of charity to the souls and bodies of our brethren is an acceptable employment, and will render our last accounts easy to us.
7. Serving God in the several particular callings and places wherein He hath set you is a work which you should endeavour to be found doing. Let me tell you, you serve God by your secular vocations; you may bring glory to Him even by your worldly employment, though it be never so mean and contemptible. The poorest labourer, by a conscientious discharge of his proper trust, by diligence and honesty, is in a capacity to honour his Maker and the religion which he professes. Every one in the sphere and orb wherein Providence hath fixed him must act, move, and influence. Serve God with constancy both in your general and particular calling. This is Christianity, and this will bring a blessing upon you and yours.
III. OUR LORD WILL COME AND TAKE AN ACCOUNT OF WHAT WE HAVE DONE. The Master will come and visit His servants whom He hath set on work. My brethren, our Lord observes and minds what we do; He takes notice whether we be idle or watchful, whether we busy ourselves about His work or Satans. And it will not be long before He comes and reckons with us for all our past demeanour. The days of accounting are these two, death and the last judgment. These are the set times of our Lords coming, and none can reverse and escape them. The voluptuous and debauched person must appear before that great tribunal, and give an account of his wild and brutish deportment; the unclean person who shunned the light, and thought to conceal his folly by darkness and retirements, must then appear and stand out in the open view of the world, and be accountable for his lewd and lascivious practices. The profane swearer, who blasphemed the holy name of God and His Son Jesus, must then bow and prostrate himself to Him whom he before profaned. The mighty oppressor, who escaped here the earthly judge, and by his wealth and power made himself too great for human judicature, must stand at that great bar and submit to the fatal sentence. The hypocrite, who thought to deceive God as well as his neighbours, shall appear then in his true shape, which he never did before. The uncharitable man, the fomenter of strife and discord, the man that haled others before the judge, must himself appear before the Judge of heaven and earth, and answer for all his unchristian and unbrotherly behaviour.
IV. THOSE SERVANTS WHOM CHRIST AT HIS COMING SHALL FIND ABOUT HIS WORK AND BUSINESS ARE IN A BLESSED AND HAPPY CONDITION.
1. How comfortable must it needs be to a holy person that he hath not only all his lifetime endeavoured sincerely to serve his God, and to do all the good he could in the world, but that, by Gods grace assisting him, he hath persevered in the same course until death; and now that he is to depart this life he is not employed in the works of darkness, he is not displeasing God, and offending good men, but he is about his Masters business, and he expires his last breath in the discharge of his duty. Blessedness is entailed on the servant who thus behaves himself. If you consider the nature of the thing itself it cannot be otherwise, for he being made by God to serve Him, and to be wholly at His beck and disposal, it must needs be that his satisfaction and happiness should consist in conforming himself to Gods will, and in acting according to His laws and commands. I may add likewise that God will protect His servants in the discharge of His own work. They are safe whilst they are doing what He sets them about. Come what will, they cannot be miserable. The summary application of all may be that of 2Pe 3:11. Seeing, then, that all these things shall be dissolved (seeing that the day of the Lord approaches, and Christ will come to judge thee speedily, either at death or at the last judgment), what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? how exemplary should your lives and conversations be? how zealous should you show yourselves in all the exercises of religion. Give me leave to direct you (as to this great matter) in these few words:
1. Pray more fervently. Unite all your forces now and wrestle with God, and cry mightily unto Him for yourselves, for this place where you inhabit, and for the whole land of your nativity.
2. Disengage your affections more resolvedly from the world. You are convinced by this time, surely, that the world is vain and uncertain. Dote not on its enjoyments, sink not your souls into earth, plunge them not into the mire, be indifferent as to all things here below, and be ready to part with any of this worlds goods.
3. Oppose vice more vigorously than ever, and the rather because of those many strong temptations you meet with in this degenerate and corrupted age.
4. Breathe after heaven more passionately. Let the ill things which you behold here below be the occasion of raising your thoughts and desires toward those mansions above where nothing inhabits but what is pure and holy.
5. Let your lives and actions acquaint the world how mindful you are of that great account which you are to give at the coming of the Lord. Desire to be found doing your Masters work, and then be not solicitous about the wages, but assure yourselves that that will be a recompense far beyond your thoughts and wishes. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (John Edwards, D. D.)
The faithful servant
I. THE FAITHFUL PRINCIPLES OF THE TRUE SERVANT OF GOD.
1. He views God as an ever-present Master.
2. He acknowledges God as the Giver of life and salvation to his perishing soul.
II. THE HONOURABLE OCCUPATIONS OF THE TRUE SERVANT OF GOD. He considers himself to be entrusted with various gifts; not for his own pleasure, but for Gods glory; not for selfish ends, but for the highest good of his fellow-creatures. All that he possesses he considers as being his Lords goods; and he does not dare to waste any part of them. He takes an inventory of what is committed to him, and occupies or trades therewith. He turns everything to good account; he squanders nothing. To this end, moreover, he often reviews his own proceedings; and these self-examinations are preparatory to that last solemn hour when it shall be said, Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. See how he dedicates his talents to the Most High, and employs all his mind for God! What poor, ignorant sinners, whether at home, or heathen abroad, can I bring to the knowledge of Christ? What afflicted person can I comfort? What tempted servant of Christ can I succour? What neighbour, or friend, or relative, that is unconverted, can I win to Christ? Thus, moreover, he lays out his time; his years, his days, his very hours are engaged for God.
III. THE GENEROUS DISPOSITIONS OF THE TRUE SERVANT OF GOD. In one word–love. Therefore, nothing is irksome, nothing burdensome.
IV. THE REWARD WHICH SHALL BE GIVEN TO THE TRUE SERVANT OF GOD.
1. He is commended.
2. He is promoted.
3. He is admitted to joys inconceivable. (Dr. Jowett, M. A.)
The blessedness of the faithful servant
I. THE HONOURABLE OCCUPATION DESCRIBED IS THAT OF A SERVANT DILIGENTLY EMPLOYED IN HIS MASTERS WORK.
1. Labour is not necessarily and essentially a curse. Adam in Eden. Labour in itself is invigorating, promoting the welfare of the body and the cheerfulness of the mind, while it tends to keep the heart from the power of those temptations which find in the idle and unoccupied an easy prey. It is idleness in all its forms against which the displeasure of our God is expressed with repeated emphasis in the sacred Scriptures. And labour is honourable, whether in the lowly engagements of those who tread the humbler walks of life, or in the more imposing pursuits of those who occupy the prominent stations of society; whether the miner who labours in the bowels of the earth, or the author who with his pen records the processes and results of laborious thought for the guidance of his fellowmen. God has prescribed labour as one of the lasting arrangements of the social world. Everything is full of labour, from the glowing seraph, who flies through boundless space, the willing agent of Almighty will, down to those mysterious laws which keep the universe in being and secure its destined aims; and man is to be no exception, his varied powers of body and of mind were bestowed, net to evaporate in listless, dreamy idleness, to be prostituted for the needs of selfishness and pleasure, but to be employed in active, healthful toil; hence we say labour is honourable. And if prescribed and honourable in the social world, much more so is its relation to the religion of Jesus. He would have no idlers in His kingdom. The idea of our text is that of a servant diligently engaged with his work. Now this, you know, is not the case with all; by some it is done partially, sluggishly, grudgingly, fitfully; but the character here described is supposed to recognize his obligation, without which no one will prove a faithful servant; to carry out his obligations with perseverance, feeling that every day has its claim, and every hour its demand; and further, seeking his Masters approbation, and thus making his labour his delight, as will always be the case when the smile of approbation is felt to be a coveted reward and a gratifying recompense. This we have described as an honourable position, and contrast justifies the representation. How unlike the trifler and the profligate is the course of the faithful servant!
2. Such a character is honourable in the unprejudiced estimate of the world. To whom do we look back with reverence and esteem? To the men who lived solely for selfish ends, either that they might amass a fortune or obtain a name? or to those who spent their all in riotous living? Oh no, they have passed into a silence as complete as the destruction they have secured, or are remembered only as warnings to others to avoid their folly and escape their doom. It is the patriot toiling or suffering for his countrys good. A Howard or a Fry risking the infection of disease in their efforts to alleviate the sufferings or restrain the progress of guilt–the humble, devoted instructor of youthful ignorance–the faithful pastor–the sanctified intellect–the self-denying philanthropist–these are they whom the world, with all its evils, yet delights to honour–whose names are embalmed in fragrant recollection, who are looked upon as men who are held up for the admiring imitation of succeeding generations–these, the servants diligently and faithfully engaged in their work, are the lights of the world and the salt of the earth.
3. Such characters are honourable in the approving representations of Gods own Word.
II. CONSIDER THE BLESSEDNESS WITH WHICH SUCH COURSE SHALL BE CROWNED. Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when He cometh shall find so doing.
1. Here we are referred to a solemn event, the coming of the Master.
2. And yet further, the form of our text suggests to us the uncertainty of the mode and the moment of the Masters arrival. Uncertainty–not with Him, for known unto God are all things from the foundation of the world, but uncertainty as respects ourselves; the moment is hastening on, but we know it not–the mode is arranged and fixed, but it is not revealed. Nor can any careful induction of facts lead us to any reliable conclusion as to what awaits us–under what circumstances, or at what time, the Master will come to us. Sometimes we see the servant left to toil on through the whole extent of the wilderness, like Joshua and Caleb, while others enter the promised land in the springtide of their youth or in the full yet undecayed maturity of advanced years: wearisome sickness sometimes makes the exhausted traveller cry, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, while others, spared the struggle and the dying strife, drop the coil of mortality and soar away on more than eagles wings, and find themselves at rest. None, none can tell the hour or foresee the mode by which he shall be summoned to the final interview, yet the event with all its details is determined and known to Him in whom we live and move and have our being. The time is settled when, by the slow process of decay, or suddenly without previous notice, amid scenes of pleasure, the occupations of business, or in the solitude of retirement, we shall hear the Masters voice, and be called to appear before Him. (Henry Madgin.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 42. Faithful and wise steward] See Clarke on Mt 24:45; where the several parts of the steward’s office are mentioned and explained. Those appear to have been stewards among the Jews, whose business it was to provide all the members of a family, not only with food, but with raiment.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
42. Who then, &c.answeringthe question indirectly by another question, from which they wereleft to gather what it would be:To you certainly in the firstinstance, representing the “stewards” of the “household”I am about to collect, but generally to all “servants” inMy house.
faithful and wiseFidelityis the first requisite in a servant, wisdom (discretion andjudgment in the exercise of his functions), the next.
stewardhouse steward,whose it was to distribute to the servants their allotted portion offood.
shall makewill deemfit to be made.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the Lord said, who then is that faithful and wise steward,…. Christ does not directly, and in express words, answer to Peter’s question, but suggests, that though he intended it as a caution to all his people, and in it spoke to them all to be upon their watch and guard, Mr 13:37 yet that he had a special regard to them, his apostles, and succeeding ministers of the Gospel, whose characters, office, work, dignity, and honour, are here described. Such are stewards in Christ’s family, they are entrusted with the stores and provisions of his house, and “faithfulness” and “wisdom” are requisite in them; the one, that they do not corrupt and adulterate the word of God, and mix it with human doctrines, but that they deliver it out pure and sincere as it is; and the other, that they may rightly divide it, and wisely distribute it:
whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household: Christ’s “household”, or family, is his church, over which the ministers of the Gospel are appointed “rulers”, to govern the house according to the laws of Christ, and keep every thing in good decorum and order; and particularly their work, and which agrees to their character as stewards is,
to give them their portion of meat in due season: in doing which they answer the characters of faithful and wise stewards: they are faithful who give out the whole portion allotted, without adulterating it, or keeping back any part of it; and they are wise, who deliver it to them in proper time and season. The word translated “portion of meat”, is only used in this place, and is rendered in the Vulgate Latin version, “a measure of wheat”; but it may be applied to any food in general, and an allotment of it; and signifies such a portion as was given to servants for one month, or rather every day; and may signify that portion of the word of God, and the interpretation of it, which is to be given forth every Lord’s day to his people, suitable to their condition, cases, and circumstances. The Septuagint translators use the verb in Ge 47:12 who render the text thus, “and Joseph, , measured out to his father”, and to “his brethren, and to all the house of father, wheat”, or bread, “according to their persons”, i.e. the number of them: to which passage there may be some reference here; at least it serves to illustrate this; [See comments on Mt 24:45].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Who then ( ). Jesus introduces this parable of the wise steward (42-48) by a rhetorical question that answers itself. Peter is this wise steward, each of the Twelve is, anyone is who acts thus.
The faithful and wise steward ( ). The faithful steward, the wise one. A steward is house manager (, , to manage). Each man is a steward in his own responsibilities.
Household (). Literally, service from . medical service as in Lu 9:11, by metonymy household (a body of those domestics who serve).
Their portion of food ( ). Late word from (Ge 47:12) for the Attic , to measure the food, the rations. Here only in the N.T. or anywhere else till Deissmann (Bible Studies, p. 158) found it in an Egyptian papyrus and then an inscription in Lycia (Light from the Ancient East, p. 104).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
That faithful and wise steward. Lit., that faithful steward, the wise man.
Household [] . From its original meaning of waiting on, attendance (Luk 9:11), it comes to mean the retinue of attendants; the body of household servants.
Portion of meat [] . Lit., measure of food.
In due season. At the appointed time for distributing rations. See on Mt 24:45.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And the Lord said,” (kai eipen ho kurios) “And the Lord replied,” responded with illustrative truth, so as neither to excite fleshly pride nor leave any ground of reasonable doubt that He was speaking the lesson concerning those of His own church.
2) “Who then is that faithful and wise steward,” (tis ara estin ho postos oikomos ho phronimos) “Who then is (exists as) the faithful and prudent house-steward,” or just who is he? Is that what you want to know? 1Co 4:2. An house-steward is a servant given specific responsibilities to administer the property and estate of another, of his lord or master, while the lord is away.
3) “Whom his lord shall make ruler over his household,” (hon katastesei ho kurios epi tes therapeias autou tou) “Whom the lord or master will appoint over his household, his attendants and estate,” as the pastor or bishop is made overseer of each congregation he serves, Act 20:28. He is to feed the church, as an administrator of the congregation, Joh 20:21; 1Ti 3:15.
4) “To give them their portion of meat in due season?” (didonai en kairo (to) sitometrion) “To give or dole out to them their portion of food in season;” The attendants of the household had need for food and direction in daily service or activities. Every servant is to be faithful and watching and serving his Lord in the church, but the pastor, the head steward, called Porter and Bishop, is a special servant, Mar 13:34; Act 20:28; 1Pe 5:1-5.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(42-46) Who then is that faithful and wise steward?See Notes on Mat. 24:45-51. Here the words come as an answer to Peters question. The promise was spoken, not for the Twelve only, but for every faithful and wise steward. The words are as the germ of the parable which sets forth the wisdom, though not the faithfulness, of the Unjust Steward (Luk. 16:8-10). If wisdom and prudence alone deserved the praise there bestowed on it, what would be due to wisdom and faithfulness united? In St. Pauls words, It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful (1Co. 4:2), we may, perhaps, recognise one of the many traces left on his Epistles by the companionship of St. Luke. (See Introduction.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
42. Who then is Our Lord in effect says that every man may apply the warning to his own case. In his discourse on the Mount of Olives (Mar 13:37) our Lord expressly extended the warning to ALL: What I say unto you I say unto all. Perhaps our Lord means here to indicate that the all includes more than that whole congregation, and embraces the great, congregation of the entire Church and world between the two advents. See our note on Luk 18:8, and also supplementary note on Matthew 25.
Who is that faithful and wise steward? Whoever and whenever and wherever he is, blessed is he!
The Parable of The Servants Good and Bad (12:42-48).
In reply to Peter’s question Jesus tells a parable about an individual steward (although it expands to cover all level of servants at the end). It should be noted that again the parable is open to varied interpretation. The crowd could see the mention of the lord’s coming as just a part of His comings and goings without reading into it the second coming. They would simply see it as a warning of the need to serve God faithfully, especially those of them who held positions of authority.
The disciples themselves who were in the know about His departure and second coming may have interpreted it of the second coming. But it is doubtful if even they did until much later. Originally they too probably saw it in terms of the lord’s comings and goings, and as a warning of the necessity to be faithful and ardent in His service. They may have gone along with the crowd.
But there is little doubt that Jesus did in the end mean it to be understood of the Second Coming, and that the early church would have seen it like that. For Jesus was constantly trying to turn the thoughts of His disciples to the coming crisis and what lay beyond (Luk 9:22; Luk 9:44; Mar 8:31; Mar 9:12; Mar 9:31; Mar 10:45). It was part of the genius of Jesus that His parables could be multipurpose. We must not limit Jesus by our hidebound ideas and interpretations. He was both a genius and far-sighted.
Analysis.
a Peter said, “Lord, do you speak this parable to us, or even to all?” (Luk 12:41).
b The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall set over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? (Luk 12:42).
c “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing” (Luk 12:43).
d “Of a truth I say to you, that he will set him over all that he has” (Luk 12:44).
c “But if that servant shall say in his heart, ‘My lord delays his coming,’ and shall begin to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken, the lord of that servant will come in a day when he does not expect, and in an hour when he does not know, and will cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the unfaithful” (Luk 12:45-46).
b “And that servant, who knew his lord’s will, and did not make ready, nor did according to his will, will be beaten with many stripes, but he who did not know, and did things worthy of stripes, will be beaten with few stripes” (Luk 12:47-48 a).
a “And to whoever much is given, of him will much be required, and to whom they commit much, of him will they ask the more” (Luk 12:48 b).
Note than in ‘a’ the question is as to whom the parable is addressed, and in the parallel it is to those to whom much has been given. In ‘b’ the steward is set over the household, and in the parallel the punishment for such servants is described. In ‘c’ the servant who is ready is blessed, and in the parallel the servants who are not ready are punished. And central in ‘d’ is the fact that the faithful servant will be set over all that he has.
Luk 12:42-44 . In the pregnant style characteristic of Jesus as it most of all appears in John, He makes no direct reply to that question, but proceeds with His parable of the servants, and among these He now for the first time begins to speak of that one (the apostles generally cannot be described in Luk 12:42-46 ) whom He, before His departure, would set over the rest of the household as (the post destined for Peter !). He depicts his great recompense in the event of his being faithful, and his heavy punishment in the event of his being unfaithful (down to Luk 12:48 ); and He consequently made Peter, whose question betrayed an inconsiderate exaltation above the crowd, understand His reply to mean: Instead of meddling with that question, thou hast thine own consequent position to keep in view with fear and trembling! Then, however, Luk 12:47 f., he links on the general law of retribution under which every one comes, and which every one has to lay to heart. As to the reference of , and the relation of the question to Luk 12:43 , see on Mat 24:45 f.
42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?
Ver. 42. See Mat 24:46-51 .
42 ff. ] Our Lord does not answer the question directly, but proceeds with His discourse, so as to furnish it with an answer; viz. that in its highest sense it applies to his Apostles and ministers, inasmuch as to them most has been given as the but that its application is gradationally downwards through all those who know their Master’s will, even to the lowest, whose measure both of responsibility and of reward is more limited. For the comment on Luk 12:42-46 see on Mat 24:45-51 . Notice that here = in Matt.
Luk 12:42 . , the Lord, in narrative. , etc.: in Mt. this is connected immediately with the thought in Luk 12:40 , so that Peter’s interpellation appears as an interruption of a continuous discourse. Some variations from Mt.’s text are noticeable in Lk.’s version: for , (future) for (aorist), for , for . These changes, according to Weiss and Holtzmann (H. C.), are due to the parable being connected with the Apostles, and one can see some plausibility in the hypothesis so far as the first two variations are concerned. The question: who then, etc., is supposed to answer itself: who but each of you apostles, who especially but you Peter?
Luk 12:42 . , the due portion of food; a word of late Greek. Phryn., p. 383, forbids the use of , and enjoins separation of the compound into its elements: , . The noun occurs here only; the verb in Gen 47:12 and occasionally in late Greek authors.
that faithful and wise steward = the faithful steward and prudent [man].
make ruler = set.
over. Greek. epi. App-104. Not the same case as in verses: Luk 12:14, Luk 12:44.
portion of meat = measure of food. Greek. sitometrion. Occurs only here. Supposed to be a peculiar N.T. word, but it is found in the Papyri, and the kindred verb in Gen 47:12, Gen 47:14 (Septuagint)
42 ff.] Our Lord does not answer the question directly, but proceeds with His discourse, so as to furnish it with an answer;-viz. that in its highest sense it applies to his Apostles and ministers, inasmuch as to them most has been given as the -but that its application is gradationally downwards through all those who know their Masters will, even to the lowest, whose measure both of responsibility and of reward is more limited. For the comment on Luk 12:42-46 see on Mat 24:45-51. Notice that here = in Matt.
Luk 12:42. , who) The Lord does not expressly reply to the question of Peter; but yet He intimates, that He addresses the parable strictly to the disciples (for the steward is distinct from the household committed to him): and He shapes His address to them in the singular number, so as thereby to stimulate them singly and individually the more. Then in Luk 12:54-55, He says something to all then present, reproving the people, inasmuch as, not as yet having become sensible of the truth of the Messiahs first Advent, they were not able to comprehend the doctrine of the Second Advent.-, shall appoint [make]) The Future tense: because it is faithfulness [which had yet to be proved] that makes the servant worthy to be appointed over the household. A new , shall appoint [make], follows in Luk 12:44. There is a gradation from the charge over the household, to that over all that He hath [all his goods, ].
Who: Luk 19:15-19, Mat 24:45, Mat 24:46, Mat 25:20-23, 1Co 4:1, 1Co 4:2, Tit 1:7
steward: Luk 16:1-12, Mat 20:8, 1Pe 4:10
ruler: 1Ti 3:15, 1Ti 5:17, Heb 3:5, Heb 13:7, Heb 13:17
to give: Jer 23:4, Eze 34:3, Mat 13:52, Joh 21:15-17, Act 20:28, 1Pe 5:1-4
in due: Pro 15:23, Isa 50:4, 2Ti 4:2
Reciprocal: Exo 36:4 – General Neh 13:13 – counted Job 23:12 – necessary food Pro 12:8 – commended Pro 14:35 – king’s Pro 28:20 – faithful Pro 31:15 – and giveth Jer 3:15 – which shall Jer 23:28 – speak Eze 34:2 – Woe Luk 16:2 – give Rom 12:7 – ministry 1Co 9:17 – dispensation 1Th 2:4 – to be 1Th 4:11 – and to do 1Ti 3:3 – Not given to wine 2Ti 2:2 – faithful 2Ti 2:15 – rightly 3Jo 1:5 – General
2
Instead of a direct answer, Jesus replied in a manner that made it apply to all who profess to be his servants. The activities described per tain to some customs in connection with weddings, but the point is in reference to the favors that Jesus will bestow on his faithful servants when he comes back to the earth.
Luk 12:42-46. See on Mat 24:45-51, which corresponds exactly. Jesus continues His teaching as if He took no account of Peters question; but in reality He gives such a turn to the warning which follows about watchfulness, that it includes the precise answer to the question. (Godet.) Faithfulness and unfaithfulness come into prominence, not the reward of a particular class, irrespective of their conduct Peter learned the lesson; the warning tone of these verses reappears in his epistles.
With the unfaithful. Matthew: with the hypocrites. No previous faithfulness will avail. When the Lord comes, He will judge His servants as He finds them.
Verse 42
His lord; his master.–To give them their portion of meat; that is, to have the charge and oversight of the various family supplies. The sentiment is, “Who is the servant that may hope to be promoted to a station of trust and responsibility? The one who is found faithful and vigilant when his master is away.” It does not seem to be a direct answer to Peter’s question.
Ver. 42.-And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward whom his lord shall set over his household to give them their portion of food in due season? Christ replied to Peter that He spoke indeed to all the faithful, but especially to him and the Apostles. For upon them were incumbent greater watching and care, that they might save not only themselves but others of the faithful as well. And Peter was the steward whom Christ set over His household, that is, His Church, as also the other Apostles, according to the words of S. Paul, “Let a man so account of us as of ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.”
That he may give them their measure of wheat in due season. (The Vulgate has mensuram tritici, on which Cornelius comments). Our, Lord alludes to the custom of the ancients, with whom slavery was common and severe. For servants had in abundance many things that Christians have now need of. They put one of the slaves over the mancipii, to distribute, every month, a measure (hence called demensus) of provisions and corn, wheat perhaps, or barley, if they were of inferior degree, as I have shown on Hos 3:2.
Secondly, wheat (tritici) may refer to time. For it is the duty of a good steward, like Joseph, when it is the season of wheat harvest, to dispense it frugally by measure to each head of a family, that it may not be sold or expended on the poor, and so there be an insufficiency for the household. I have explained the rest on S. Mat 24:45.
Observe the words “steward” and “portion.” For a just steward does not give the same measure to all, but to each his own and according to his age, rank, and desert. It is the proper task of a steward to distribute what is appropriate to each. One kind and proportion of food is proper for an infant, and another for a youth, a third, for a full grown man, a fourth, for the aged-one for a man, another for a woman-one for a daughter, another for a servant-one for sons, another for slaves.
From this Christ moraliter, teaches, Bishops, Pastors, Confessors, Preachers, that they ought not to set forth the same food of doctrine to all the faithful, nor (in general) speak of virtues to all only in a general way, but in particular they should instil into them such as are fit and proper to their age and position. S. Paul, by his own example, taught the praxis of this parable and sentence when he gave one kind of monition and precept to sons, another to fathers, another to servants, Eph 6:1 and following, and when he wrote to Timothy, 1Ti 5:1-4; so to Tit 2:2, and following.
S. Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop of New Csarea, followed Christ and S. Paul, as Gregory of Nyssa writes in his life: “A mourner would bear from him what would comfort him; youth were corrected and taught moderation-medicine in fitting conversation was offered to the aged, servants were taught to be well affected to their masters, masters to be kind and gentle to those under their rule; the poor were taught to hold grace the only true riches, the possession of which was in the power of every one; he who boasted himself of his wealth was aptly reminded that he was the steward and not the lord of what he had. Profitable words were given to women, suitable ones to children, and befitting ones to fathers.” And S. Cyprian, as Pontius the deacon wrote in his life, used to urge maidens to a becoming rule of modesty and a manner of dress which was adapted to sanctity. He taught the lapsed penitence, heretics truth, schismatics unity, the sons of God peace and the law of evangelical prayer. He comforted Christians under the loss of their relatives with the hope of the future. He checked the bitterness of envy by the sweetness of befitting remedies. He incited martyrs by exhortation from the divine discourses. Confessors who were signed with the mark on their foreheads he animated by the incentive of the heavenly host. The same, especially, and before all others, did Pope Gregory, who kept the names of all the poor of Rome and the neighbourhood in a book, and supplied them with whatever they required. He maintained three thousand nuns in town and very many more who lived beyond the city. Hence we may truly say of him, “All the Church shall declare his alms,” Ecclus 33. How great a regard he had for souls, and what precepts he gave fitted for the salvation of each, is seen from his homilies and letters, in which he admonishes the Emperor Maurice not to withdraw soldiers from the Religious life; John the Patriarch of Constantinople not to arrogate to himself the haughty title of Universal Bishop; Venantius the Chancellor of Italy, to resume the monastic habit which he had thrown aside; John the Bishop of Ravenna to lay down the Pallium which he had unlawfully assumed. Add to this the rules he gave and the laws he laid down for Augustine, the Apostle of England, for bringing the English to the faith of Christ; the Irish bishops that he taught not to re-baptize those who had been baptized by heretics in the name of the Trinity, and many other things. Search the iv. vol. of his letters and you will wonder that one man, taken up with so much business, and the subject of so many bodily infirmities, could enter upon so many and such important particulars, and lay down for each person directions to fit them for virtue. For prudence consists not in controlling general acts, but in directing each particular one wisely; for the performance of virtues is singular, and requires a singular direction and teaching.
Ver. 46.-And shall cut him asunder. That is, shall separate him from Himself, and His household, the Church triumphant; from the society of the Blessed and from the Beatitude promised to the faithful servants. See St. Jerome on Matt. xxiv.: “Shall cut him asunder, that is, shall separate him from the Communion of Saints.” St. Hilary: “Shall separate him from the good promises;” Origen: “Shall cut him off from the gift of the Holy Spirit and from the society and guardianship of the Angels, for Christ will deprive him of all grace, all virtue, all help, and all hope of salvation.”
And appoint his position with the unfaithful. That is, shall punish him with the other servants who were unfaithful to him, although they pretended to be the contrary. Hence Mat 24:51 has “with the hypocrites.” These unfaithful are perhaps the unbelieving-they who would not believe in Christ, and of whom it is said, “He that believeth not hath been judged already.” S. Joh 3:18.
Ver. 47.-And that servant which knew his lord’s will and made not ready. Did not prepare for the coming of his lord by distributing to his fellow-servants their portions of food in season, but by ill-treating them, and by debauchery, squandered the goods of his master, “he shall be beaten with many stripes.”
Ver. 48.-But he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes. That is, with fewer than he who knew his lord’s will, according to the measure as well of his ignorance as of his act and fault. There are four degrees of ignorance, the first invincible, which is without blame; the second vincible, but hardly so, which has some fault and is subject to punishment; the third crass, which has more blame; the fourth wilful, which has the most blame and the heaviest punishment. Of this the Psa 36:4 speaks, “He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good, he abhorreth not evil.” “This man,” says Euthymius, “despised everything; that one was slothful. But contempt is worse than sloth.” For the slothful man knew not when he might have known, and, as Titus says, he neglected to learn and despised, and derided contemptuously. Hence it is plain against Jovinian and modern heretics that there are degrees even of mortal sin, and some are worse than others, and will therefore meet with more heavy punishment in hell, but one of a milder the other of a more severe punishment.
And to whomsoever much is given-a greater knowledge that is, and recognition of his master’s will-of him shall much be required, by Christ the judge, and in the particular as well as general judgment. For, as S. Gregory (Hom. 9) says, “When gifts are increased the responsibility is increased also,” and to whom they commit much (that is, the care and superintendence of souls), of him will they ask the more. “Many things,” says Bede, “are entrusted to him, to whom is committed, with his own salvation, the salvation also of the flock of God. From such will Christ, His assessors the Apostles, and the other judges, require the more, not only their own safety and salvation as far as lies in them, but those also of the faithful committed to them. “In the pastor,” says S. Bernard, “is required the care of souls, not the cure (cura requiritur, non curatio). The latter may be impossible from the virulence or pertinacity either of the disease or of the patient.” “These things,” says Titus “clearly show the judgment of the surgeons and pastors, whilst that of the rest is not less grave and perilous. Let them not therefore show pride because of their degree and office, but discharge their duties and feed their flocks with the greater humility, zeal, and diligence.” “Each one, therefore,” says S. Gregory, “ought to be the more humble and prompt to serve God, from the office given to him, as he knows himself to be under the greater obligation of giving account.”
Again, S. Bernard (Lib. iv. de Consid.), lays down forcibly, and point by point, to Pope Eugenius III. what, and how much, God requires from Pontiffs, Bishops, and Prelates. “Consider thyself,” he says, “as the form of justice, the mirror of holiness-the exemplar of piety-the assertor of the truth, the defender of the faith, the doctor of the Gentiles, the leader of Christians, the friend of the bridegroom, the ordainer of the clergy, the pastor of the people, the governor of the unwise, the refuge of the oppressed, the advocate of the poor, the hope of the wretched, the tutor of the young, the judge of widows, the eyes of the blind, the tongue of the dumb, the staff of the aged, the avenger of crimes, the dread of the wicked, the glory of the good, the rod of the powerful, the hammer of tyrants, the father of kings, the judge of the laws, the dispenser of canonries, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, the priest of the Most High, the Vicar of Christ. Who would not be struck with fear, and tremble, when he heard this, all of which is required of your see?” Thus S. Paul to the Heb. xiii. 17, on which, says S. Chrysostom, “I wonder if any guardian of souls can be saved.” Cardinal Bellarmine said the same of Pontiffs. Hence wise and holy men have avoided prelacies, and have only accepted them by compulsion. S. Cyprian, in his Epist. 2, lib. iv., wrote thus of Cornelius the Pontiff. “He did not demand the popedom for himself, nor seize it by force, as others puffed up by their arrogance and pride have done, but quietly and modestly, and like others who have been divinely called to this office, he endured force lest he should be compelled to accept it.” In like manner, as far as they could, SS. Gregory, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Basil, Nazianzen, Nicholas, Athanasius, shunned the office of Bishops; and in our own times Pius V., when chosen Pontiff, turned pale and almost fell into a faint. When asked the reason he frankly answered, “When I was a Religious of the Order of Benedict, I had very good hope of my salvation; when I was afterwards made a Bishop I began to have a dread about it: now that I am chosen Pontiff I almost despair of it, for how am I to give account to God for so many thousands of souls as are in this whole city, when I can scarcely answer for my own soul?” So it is in his life. Finally, the Council of Trent declares the burthen of a Bishop’s office to be one formidable to the shoulders of angels.
Ver. 49.-I came to came to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, if it is already kindled? The Arabic has, “What will I but that it be kindled?” So the Egyptian, Ethiopic, and Persian. It is uncertain whether Christ said this at the same time as the preceding. For S. Luke joins the words of Christ together, although spoken at different times. It may be connected with the preceding and following thus: Christ after much teaching of the Apostles and faithful, may, at last, have stated the primary duty that He was sent into the world by the Father to fulfil, namely, that He should send fire from heaven on the Apostles, that they, when inflamed by it, might kindle it in the rest of the other faithful; for by this the Apostles would fully and efficaciously perform the work that had been given them by Christ of evangelising the whole world and converting it to Him, and the faithful would exactly carry on the instructions of the Apostles.
Symbolically, S. Ambrose, on Ps. cxix. (Serm. viii.) says: “God is a light to lighten and a fire to burn up the chaff of men’s vices.” “He is light,” he says, “to shine like a lantern for one who is walking in darkness, so that whoever seeks it in its brightness cannot err. He is fire to consume the straw and chaff of our works, as gold, the more it is refined, is better proved.” So Clement of Alexandria in his exhortations to the Gentiles: “The Saviour has many voices and methods of man’s salvation. In threatening He admonishes; by prohibitions He converts; with tears He pities; (in songs) He speaks through the cloud; (in songs) by fire He strikes terror. The flame is a mark at once of grace and of fear. If you be obedient it is a light-if disobedient, a consuming fire.”
It may be asked-What is this fire? Firstly, Tertullian (Against Marcion, IV. xxix.), Maldonatus, and F. Lucas answer that it is hatred dissensions, tribulations, and persecutions by unbelievers of the faith and of the Apostles, and the faithful of Christ. These, indirectly, and occasionally, Christ and the Apostles raised by preaching the Gospel and the new religion of the crucified Saviour. “Christ,” says Tertullian, “will better interpret the quality of this fire, ver. 51, ‘Think you that I am come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, Nay, but rather division, for there shall be from henceforth,’ &c. Christ means then the fire of destruction when He refuses peace: such as the conflict was, such will the burning be by which Christ will overthrow idolatry and all (manners of) wickedness, and will reduce them to ashes. Hence He would stir up all the nations that were addicted to their own idols against Himself and the Apostles, to extinguish by every means this new instrument of destruction of their ancient superstition. To this applies all that Christ subjoins in explanation of this fire, verses 50-53.”
Secondly, and more fitly, S. Cyril in the Catena, and Jansenius think this fire to be the preaching of the Gospel, for Christ directly wished for this, that by its means He might warm the hearts of men by divine fire, as Ps. cxix. 140, “Thy Word is very pure” (Vulgate, ignitum).
Thirdly, and best, S. Ambrose and Origen on this passage, S. Athanasius on the Common Essence of Father and Son, S. Cyril (Book iv. on Leviticus), S. Jerome (Book ii Apol. against Ruffinus), S. Augustine (Serm. 108 de Tempore), S. Gregory (Hom. 30 in Evang.), by “fire” understand the Holy Ghost and His gifts, especially charity, devotion, fervour, zeal, which; say Euthymius and Theophylact, “He kindles in the souls of the faithful.” This fire also kindles the lamps of the faithful, according to the words, “Love is strong as death, jealousy is cruel as the grave, the coals thereof are coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame.” Song viii. 6. See what has been said thereon. The Church so explains it when on the Saturday after the Pentecost she prays thus in the Mass, “We beseech Thee, 0 Lord, may the Holy Spirit inflame us without fire which our Lord Jesus Christ sent upon earth and earnestly desired might be enkindled.”
“By this fire,” says S. Ambrose, “was Cleophas incited when he said, “Did not our heart burn within us, while He spake to us in the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?” Luk 24:32. Thus this fire of 1ove and ardour embraces that of tribulation which has the first place. For this fire, the Apostles, inflamed with the love of Christ, overcame; and so provoked it, for it pressed upon them, as Christ foretold in the following, Luk 12:49. So said also S. Paul, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? . . . I am persuaded that neither death nor life,” Rom 8:35-38. By the same fire was Ignatius urged in his Epistle to the Romans: “I wish,” he said, “that I may enjoy the beasts that await me, which I pray may be swift for my destruction and my punishment, and may be allured to devour me. I am the wheat of Christ, to be ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may be found the bread of the world.” This desire Christ fulfilled when He sent the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and faithful, in the form of tongues of fire at Pentecost, Act 2:3 Upon which S. Chrysostom says (Hom. iv.). “This fire has burnt up the sins of the world like fire;” and again, as we may suppose: “As a man on fire (igneus homo) if he falls into the midst of stubble will not be hurt, but will rather exert his strength, so it happens here,” that the Apostles as men on fire with the Spirit (homines ignei) should not be hurt by their persecutors, but rather convert them to the faith of Christ and inflame them. See the gifts of fire which I have counted up-enumerated and applied to the Love of God, Lev 9:23, and Acts xxiii. and Act 2:3, and Dionysius on the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy xv., where he shows by many analogies that fire is the most apt symbol and hieroglyphic of God and the angels, and most fitly represents their similitude in imitating Him, according to the words of Deu 4:24: “Thy God is a consuming fire;” and Heb 1:7, “Who maketh His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire.” With this fire burned Elijah, of whom it is written, “and Elias the prophet stood up as a fire, and his word burnt like a torch,” Ecclus 48:1, and therefore he was carried up into heaven in a chariot of fire; and Elisha cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof.” Consumed by this fire the martyrs despised their lives, nay, rather courted the flames, either because they did not feel them, like the three children in the furnace at Babylon, or that they overcame them by their heroic virtue, as did S. Laurence, of whom it is sung, Psa 17:3, “Thou hast visited me in the night (Vulg.) with fire.” Hard indeed and bitter was this test of fire, but the love of God conquered the pain; the torments of the Lamb overcame the torment of the fire; the memory of Christ, I mean, who suffered for us still more bitterly. “The fire of love could not be mastered by thy flames, 0 tyrant,” said S. Leo in his sermon on S. Laurence. “The fire that burnt outwardly was more sluggish than that which burnt within. Thou ragedst, as a persecutor against the Martyr thou ragedst, and increased his palm whilst thou augmented his punishment;” and S. Augustine on Laurence: “The blessed Laurence was consumed by this fire, but he felt not the heat of the flames, and whilst he burnt with the love of Christ, he regarded not the punishment of the persecutor.” So S. Ignatius, writing to the Romans, “Let fire,” he says, “the breaking of my limbs by wild beasts, the dismembering of my body, the breaking to pieces of my whole frame, and all the torments of the devil come upon me, so only that I may have enjoyment of Christ.” Of the same kind were also the Christians in the time of Tertullian, who (in 50 chap. Apol.) writes thus to the Gentiles: “Although you now call us Sarmentitii because we are burnt at the stake by a heap of faggots (sarmentorum), and Senarii because we are broken on the wheel, yet this is the garment of our victory, this our robe of glory, in this chariot we triumph.” Are not these terrestrial seraphim more brave and ardent than the celestial? The latter abound with the fire of love only, the former with that of pain and martyrdom also, for they are living holocausts of God. In our own age, in the same fire, were and are consumed the Japanese, who were burnt to death in a slow fire for many hours, and remained in them unsubdued and unconquered like adamant, to death. Many of them were of our society, standard-bearers as it were of (the) faith; among them was R. P. Camillus Constantius of Italy, who remained for three hours in the fire immovable, nay, even joyful and exulting; (continually) crying out to God with a loud voice, or animating his companions to constancy, or stirring up the people, a thing we have not hitherto read of in the lives of the Martyrs, until the flames seized on his inner organs, and deprived him at once of voice and life, that so he might die a glorious victim of a holocaust to God.
Hail, heroes of illustrious souls, champions of the faith, a spectacle to God, to angels, and to men. Burning with divine fire you resigned, for the faith of Christ, your bodies to the flames, and your souls to God; and from amidst those flames, rejoicing with the voice of swans, you covered yourselves with merits, amazed the tyrants, filled and adorned Japan with Christians, your society with heroic virtues, the world with fame, the Church with glory, the heavens with the laurels of fresh champions. For ever live your glory, your unconquered fortitude, your fire and ardour of heart, by which you will have illuminated and inflamed Japan, as long as the course of ages shall endure.
Thus thinking, S. Eulatia, burning with the desire of martyrdom, proceeded, without the knowledge of her parents, to her conflict, and, as Prudentius tells us in his hymn 3, when she was being consumed by the flames, she sang a hymn “On the Crowns:”-
And thus, in the thirteenth year of her age, surrounded by flames,
The martyr, in the form of a dove, flew up to heaven.
And what will I if it be already kindled? The Arabic has, “What will I but its kindling?” S. Jerome to Nepotian, “How I long for it to be kindled!” Origen (Hom. v. on Ezekiel), “I would it were kindled;” Philaster on the Heresies (cap. ult.), “How I wish that it were kindled;” that is, as the Syriac reads, “If now at length it were kindled.” SS. Hilary on Ps. cxx., Theophylact, Euthymius, and Cyril in the Catena, “I wish nothing but that this fire were at length kindled; if it were, there is nothing else I desire, this is my one only prayer.” Both readings amount to the same thing-“I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what will I if it is already kindled?”-that everywhere throughout the world He might kindle the earthly, lukewarm, frigid, nay, rocky, ice-cold, and rigid hearts of men, by His words and example, with the fierce heat of fervour, and turn them into the fire of love. So did our own S. Ignatius, the founder of the Society of Jesus. But to accomplish this there is need of much warmth and zeal. He, therefore, who would inspire others with this fire, must first kindle it strongly in himself.
Ver. 50.-But I have a baptism to be baptized with. The Arabic says, “I have a baptism, and I shall be baptized with it:” That is, By the decree of God and of My own will and determination I owe (debeo) to be baptized.
And how am I straitened till it be accomplished! “This fire of love and zeal of the Holy Spirit, cannot break forth unless the flint of My body be first struck upon the cross, or rather, until I am baptized in the font of My own blood.” This is like some fountains into which if we plunged a torch, by the wonderful power of nature, and an antiperistasis, it is lighted. Such, according to Pliny, is the fountain of Dodona (bk. ii. chap. 103). Our brethren of Coimbra, in Meteora (tract. ix. chap. 7), say that there is another in Epirus, and a third in India, the waters of which burn; another, again, which formerly took its name from Jupiter Ammon. This just before the dawn is tepid, at midday it becomes cold, it is warm in the evening, and it boils at midnight. Similar springs are found near Naples, in France, and other places. Our Lord, then, compares His passion to these. This is like a boiling fountain which has aroused, and still arouses, the fire of love in the minds of the faithful. For equally by the merit of the cross and passion of Christ and by His example does this fire burst forth. He calls His death and passion a baptism, because He was clearly sunk and overwhelmed in it, as says the Psalm, “I sink in deep mire where there is no standing, I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me,” Psa 69:2.
And how am I straitened until it be accomplished? That is, “I am afflicted and tormented by the longing to die for the salvation of men and by My death to kindle this flame.” Euthymius: “I am anxious because of its slowness;” and Theophylact: “How am I straitened,” that is, how anxious and oppressed am I until it be performed, “for I thirst for death for the good of all men.” So S. Ambrose, Bede, and others. The Arabic has, “I am narrowed for its performance.” S. Irenus 1. 18 reads, “I earnestly hasten to it.” For the hearts of the anxious are wont to be contracted and as it were compressed by such, whilst those of the joyful are expanded and dilated. De Lyra, therefore, renders it amiss, “I am narrowed,” he says, “that is, I am filled with dread, according to the words, ‘My soul is sorrowful even unto death.'” This, indeed, was a feeling natural to the soul of Christ, but He quelled and overcame it when He said, “Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”
Morally. Observe how great was the zeal of Christ, how great His love, how deep His thirst for our salvation. For it was this that raised in Him so great a thirst for His Passion, death, and crucifixion, cruel as they were, so that His heart, between their infliction and the waiting for them, was compressed, as between the two stones of a mill, and brought into the greatest straits; or placed, as it were, in a vice and compressed with anguish, lest what He loved should be refused or delayed. Christ then was urged and, as it were, burnt up by the utmost longing to offer Himself up to God as a holocaust on the altar of the cross, that, as far as in Him lay, He might sanctify, save, and bless all men.
This zeal, His thirst, He impressed upon the Apostles and apostolic men, who thirsted for crosses, labours, pains, torments, and martyrdoms, for the glory of God: that they might propagate the gospel of Christ throughout the whole world and save as many as they could. This is the holiness of the Gospel, this is the perfection of virtue, this is the crown of the Apostleship. S. Andrew’s salutations of the cross, and his earnest longing for it, are known. “Hail, precious cross, long desired, and at last ready for my longing soul! Secure and rejoicing I come to thee; do thou with joy accept me, and through Thyself do Thou receive me who by dying for me hast redeemed me.” S. Laurence said to the Emperor Valerian, when he showed to him with threats, flames, wheels, scorpions, wild beasts: “For this table I hunger, I thirst. There is no famished man who desires food, there is no one perishing of thirst who craves for water, as greedily as I court and covet all these torments, that I may repay to Christ my Saviour, pain for pain, death for death.” S. Vicentius to Dacian: “No one living has conferred on me greater gifts than thou, who torturest and crucifiest me, for with as many tortures as thou afflictest me with-with so many crowns of martyrdom dost thou adorn me.” And to the executioners, “How slow are ye, how slothful!”
S. Agatha to Quintianus, “Why are you so slow? What do you wait for?-scourge, lacerate, burn, cut down, mangle, slay my body, for the more you crucify me, the more good you confer upon me, and the more favour and grace shall I receive from my spouse Jesus Christ.” Such were the vows and such the words of SS. Agnes, Lucia, Dorothea, Ccilia, and other Martyrs.
Ver. 51.-Think ye that I am come to give peace in the earth? I tell you nay, but rather division. See what I have said Mat 10:34.
Ver. 52.-For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. Five, that is-Father, son, mother, daughter, daughter-in-law, for mother-in-law is the same as mother. So S. Ambrose. And this is plain from what follows. In the same house three unbelievers shall rise against two believers, or two unbelieving against three faithful, or father and son, who do not believe in Christ, shall rise against mother, daughter, and daughter-in-law who, do believe in Him, or the contrary.
Ver. 54.-And He said to the multitudes also, When ye see a cloud rising in the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it cometh to pass. When you see a cloud from the west you say, It will rain. In the same manner Elijah, in the time of the three years’ drought, when he heard from his servant that a cloud had arisen in the west, at once foretold that rain would follow, and it did so.
1Ki 18:44. The cause of this is natural; for Juda has the Mediterranean on the west, from which by the force of the sun many vapours are exhaled, which, when condensed into clouds by the heat of the sun, produce rain, especially when the sun is also in the west; for it is then too weak to disperse these vapours and prevent them from condensing into clouds and dissolving in rain. But the countries that have the sea equally on the west, the south and the north have, equally, from these quarters, clouds as forerunners of winds, as the English, who have the sea on all sides of them. See Mat 16:3. It is necessary to human life, says S. Basil in the Catena, to watch the heavenly bodies, so that their warnings be not examined into beyond measure. It is of consequence to look out for, and guard against storms, and for the traveller to regard the changes of temperature, for the husbandman to consider the position of the sun and moon for his sowing that he may have an abundant harvest; for God has appointed these things for signs and for seasons.
12:42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom [his] lord shall make ruler over his household, to give [them their] {l} portion of meat in due season?
(l) That is, every month the measure of corn that was given to them.
The parable of the two servants 12:42-48 (cf. Matthew 24:45-51)
Jesus answered Peter’s question with one of His own. The answer to it gave Peter the answer to his question. Obviously the faithful and sensible steward pictures a disciple. Jesus’ question also taught that He would give such disciples authority over other servants of His in the future (i.e., in the kingdom). Evidently Jesus meant that faithful disciples would have authority over His other servants in the kingdom (cf. Luk 22:30; Mat 19:28). It was common in Jesus’ day for some servants to have authority over other servants within a household (cf. Mat 18:21-35). Jesus was speaking of the leaders of His servants.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Fuente: Cornelius Lapide Commentary
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)